 |
|
|
THE MEDIA DEBATE 2004
THE ISSUE: CANNABIS IN CANADA
| CURRENT CLIMATE
|
|
|
In This Section:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Government Program:
- Medical Marijuana: Why - and
How Health Canada's plans to explore the distribution of cannabis through pharmacies. Is this plan really in the best interest of Canada's 700 or so legal users?
- Epilepsy, MS Patients Trying
Marijuana for Symptoms Canadians with epilepsy and multiple
sclerosis are turning to marijuana
to help with their symptoms, two new studies have found, and some say
they find it effective.
- Feds'
Pot: $15,000 Per Ounce An estimating $4.5 million has been spent so far to grow the government supplied cannabis. As of March 31, the Office of Cannabis Medical Access had sent out 295 oz. of cannabis to 93 legal users.
- Medical
Pot Not Up to Snuff Unless the government learns to grow better dope, a proposal to distribute Health Canada marijuana in pharmacies will go up in smoke, say local medical marijuana advocates.
- 31% of Federal Marijuana Returned Unsmoked Mr. Lucas, director of Canadians for Safe Access, said tests commissioned by his lobby group have found the federal product contains only 5.1 per cent THC rather than the 10.2 per cent claimed by Health Canada.
- Patients Spurning New Batch of 'Stronger' Health Canada Marijuana Health Canada says the new batch is 12 per cent THC, plus or minus 1.5 percentage points, has fewer leaves and twigs and more flowering tops, making it a purer smoke.
- Post Office Refuses To Ship Legal Marijuana ....according to Canada Post spokesman John Caines, the package will not be delivered because it contains a controlled substance.
- Reliable Pot Supplier Hard To Find It was big news when the Supreme Court of Canada
ruled in 2001 that the
government could not stand in the way of Canadian citizens using
marijuana to ease the pain and
symptoms of certain chronic or terminal illnesses. While the publicity
has died down, the reality
of obtaining a reliable supply of quality marijuana has remained the
same for several thousand
Canadians granted an exemption under Health Canada's Medical Marijuana
Access Regulations.
- Pot
Users Sought For Study Montreal's McGill University is heading a year-long, Canada-wide study on the safety of cannabis used for medical purposes. The study will follow 1,400 patients with chronic pain, including 350 who already use pot as part of their therapy.
- Medicinal
Pot May Soon Be In
Drugstores Officials from Health Canada met behind
closed doors yesterday with
pharmacists, medical experts, police and medicinal pot users to discuss
access to medicinal
marijuana.
- Druggists Anxious To Get Into Pot Business "Both our representative bodies, the College of Pharmacists of B.C. and the B.C. Pharmacy Association, are very much in favour of doing this," ... 80 per cent of local pharmacists support pharmacies distributing medical marijuana.
- Approval
For Cannabis Spray Sought In
Canada Pharmaceutical giant Bayer announced yesterday that it has applied to Health Canada for permission to market the drug Sativex medicinal mouth spray. It would be the first prescription drug that uses real marijuana extracts and not a synthesized form, according to its proponents.
- NDP
Pharmacare Plan Gone To
Pot? . The NDP leader said marijuana that's required as medication to help people suffering from AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses might be eligible under his proposed national drug program.
- Hopes
High For Legal Pot
Business Growing pot is a growing business for a Vancouver Island
couple -- and they want to
help others get into the same line of work.
- New
Policy Hurting Legal Grow-op
Health Canada's monopoly on medicinal pot means the ill can't get the
weed they need, say pot
growers and two of their customers. Eric Nash and Wendy Little run
Island Harvest in the Cowichan
Valley, supplying medical marijuana to 40 clients across Canada.
- Moses
Pushes MuchMarijuana
He's the main backer of Cannasat, a company looking to get it's own
brand of pot into pharmacies in
Canada and thus become part of the multi-kajillion-dollar
pharmaceuticals industry.
- Town
Backs Away From Pot-Grower's
Plan - Carasel Harvest
- Grass
Tax Grab The feds won't give financially
strapped med grass users a tax break, but that doesn't stop
them from collecting a grass sales tax from sellers. Talk about lack of
a coherent
policy.
Legal Problems:
- Dying
Man Convicted For Growing
Pot A Red Deer, Alberta man who needs to smoke
marijuana in order to eat food
because of a terminal disease was convicted of growing marijuana
- Friend
Grew Pot For Dying Man
Sudbury, Ont - A man who says he grew marijuana to help his dying
friend was spared jail time
Tuesday.
- Decorated
Soldier Tires Of Pot
Fight Nova Scotia - Mr. Wilson wasn't apologetic earlier this
month when he admitted he
didn't know how long he could survive fighting the justice system for
the right to use marijuana as
medicine.
- Marijuana
Law Faces Another
Challenge A West Quebec man will finally get his day in court
after battling the legal
system for years. Johnny Dupuis will go on trial Tuesday for a
five-year-old charge of
possessing marijuana.
- MS
Sufferer Battles to Get
Cannabis It's the only thing that makes life bearable, but it
has made Jillian a
criminal.
- Medicinal
Marijuana Argument Fails
to Sway Red Deer Court... convicted of growing marijuana last month and given an 18-month conditional sentence. He testified that he has hepatitis C and needs marijuana to give him an appetite. Without it, he will get sick, he said last month.
- Medical
Pot Viewed As Community
Issue Justice David Vickers "We seem to be content" to let
the criminal justice deal with
an issue that would be more effectively addressed with a community
medical program. "This is
another one of those cases where the medical issues have become
enmeshed with the criminal justice
system,"
- Medical
Marijuana Fight Heating
Up A disabled man in southeastern B.C. who wants to
grow his own medical marijuana
has been granted a hearing by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.
- Youngs
Lose Fight to Smoke Marijuana
in CRD Housing He has an exemption from Health Canada that allows him to use marijuana and allows his wife to grow it for his use. However, the exemption did not protect the couple from being evicted over the pungent aroma produced by the burning weed.
- Court
Backs Pot Growers A
judge has ordered Toronto Police to return hydroponic marijuana growing
equipment to two growers
operated a compassion club by tomorrow.
- Police
Not Charging Pot Grower
Nova Scotia - RCMP said the owner suffers from a serious illness
and is trying to get
medicinal marijuana in consultation with a doctor... Police seized the
plants and will have them
destroyed.
Other Quality of Life Issues:
- Thieves
Looking For Medicinal
Marijuana Threaten Two people were terrorized inside their
Chilliwack, BC home by thieves
looking for medicinal marijuana.
- Drug
Stigma Makes For Painful
Death Even when they're dying, some patients are hesitant to take
medical marijuana because
they fear getting into trouble with the law or becoming addicted
|
Last Modified:Monday, 24-Jan-2005 12:54:38 PST
|